People of color pay higher rental fees than their white peers, report finds

• People of color fill out more rental applications and pay higher fees than their white peers, a Zillow report says.
• Black, Latinx, and Asian and Pacific Islander tenants on average paid higher security deposits than their white peers.

People of color fill out more rental applications and pay higher application fees and security deposits than their white peers, a Zillow study finds.

According to the report released on April 6th, Black and Latinx renters submit three applications for every two applications Asian and white renters submit.

Roughly 9 in 10 renters paid a security deposit last year, with the average deposit coming in at $700. Black and Latinx renters were more likely to pay a security deposit, and when they did, the deposits were on average $150 higher than white tenants, according to the report. Asian and Pacific Islander tenants, on average, paid the highest security deposit at $1,000.

It doesn't help that rent prices are exponentially increasing across the country, with some cities seeing rent increases of over 40% each year.

As the report cites, many of the families moving likely are doing so to find more affordable housing.

Zillow attributes these disparities to factors including that the average age of the Black and Hispanic renters are on average two years younger than white renters, and that white renters are more likely to be concentrated in rural areas where rent is cheaper.

While this is a microcosm of what is happening in the US rental market, racial discrimination can be seen across the housing market.

A WBUR analysis found that while 6% of all home loan applicants in Boston were denied between 2015 and 2020, Black applicants' home loan applications were three times more likely to be rejected than their white counterparts. Hispanic potential buyers were a little over twice as likely to be denied than their white counterparts.

And the trend can be seen across both high and low earners.

"Even high-income Black borrowers are less likely to receive a loan or are more likely to be denied a loan than their white counterparts," Sarah Philbrick, a research analyst formerly with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, told WBUR.